Happy Birthday Peter Rabbit?

Today is Beatrix Potter's birthday!!!

She is the author who invented the character we know as "Peter Rabbit."

Without Ms. Potter's help, we may never had the fun-loving, and trouble-making character as:

PETER RABBIT! So happy birthday B. Potter, and Peter Rabbit from whose mind he came. No Beatrix Potter---No Peter Rabbit!

And the winner is............!

Reading all of the best chapter books written the last year for young students, the John Newbery committee chooses ONE winner: the Newbery winner for 2010 is ...

When You Reach Me, by R. Stead

John Newbery was born today. He was the very first bookseller and publisher of children's books.

Read one of the past winners for a real 'winning' treat!

Click on this URL for a complete list of past Newbery winners:

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/reading/elem/newbery/newbery.htm

Today in 1969, on this day
the FIRST human stood on the surface of the moon!

We are so used to hearing about the space shuttle that it is easy to forget that space travel by humans is an amazing thing! Lots of science, lots of brain-power, lots of determination makes these special activities occur.


What kind of special goal do you have for your life when you go to middle school or high school? Being an "all-A-student"? To make it on the cheer leading squad? To become really good at playing a musical instrument? Learn to be good at chess? Finding out what interests you is a great start for setting some goals--go ahead, make a wish and make it come true!

What does "Star Trek" & "Indiana Jones" have in common?

In 1940 on this date, the Captain of the "Enterprise" of Star Trek: the Next Generation; and a few years later (1942) the star, Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones) were both born TODAY! Both the Enterprise and the history professor of antiquities have books about them in character and biographies (books about people's lives). Try to find both a fiction book (about Star Trek or Indiana Jones) and a biography book about either Patrick Stewart (the Captain of the Enterprise) or Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones) to read.

Remember: practice makes perfect -- that goes for sports AND for reading!

........and a book ABOUT Mr. Gamble's life = BIOGRAPHY
..............a book ABOUT Mr. Gamble's pretend adventures = FICTION.

Talk to you soon,
Mr. G

Finally some sunshine!

Finally, after almost 3 days of rain here in Johnson County, we actually had a sun-filled day!

Did you enjoy a good book in the shade or at the pool today?

Something I learned today: after the Civil War, some people wanted to punish those who fought against the North by not letting those Southerners hold down any political offices. The 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed this day in 1868 (3 years after the Civil War was over) to make it illegal to keep Southerners out of politics. Onward marches the drum beat of freedom for all!

We have been having a lot of rain lately....it seems like every other day we get wet. That has its good points and bad points.

One of the good is the picture above: rainbows are always nice, and the blue bird on the post adds a nice touch to make the picture especially beautiful. What kinds of indoor activities do you do during rainy days? Reading a book, reading off the internet, using your electronic book, reading is like any sport: the more you do it, the better you become at it....KEEP PRACTICING!

Yard Work & Internet Work

Working in the yard today meant 2 and a half hours of pulling & cutting weeds. Ever had spearmint gum? The spearmint plant can be a nice unusual plant in your garden---until the spring hits, then it spreads EVERYWHERE! I pulled and cut and pulled and cut the spearmint plants to make room for the plants the gardener wanted to show. She had given up on trying to control it, so it was taking over the garden.

The library learning commons is sort of like this garden. While there are some really good titles in the collection, there are some books in print which say that ONE day we will go to the moon---that is not an up-to-date book. On the other hand there are some books that are full of good and useful information.

Try to find one outdated book, and then a book full of good, useful information about the same subject. It will surprise you what has changed since the writing of the out-of-date one!


....and for the internet work. I spent a couple of hours working on the web site which is designed to give parents who want to help in the library some ideas about how they can help. It sure would be a nice problem to have more help than the library learning commons has work.

That's my day for today.

I hope yours was good for you!